All City High School Jazz Ensemble and Northlanders Sizzle

Last night, the All City High School Jazz Ensemble and Augustana College Northlanders Jazz Band performed at Kresge Auditorium to a nearly full house.

The All City program was established 8 years ago by the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society and features a select group of high school musicians nominated by their band directors with a focus on the art of jazz improvisation. A high school group is selected and performs in the fall with a middle school program scheduled each spring.

Yamaha artist, trumpeter and composer Jeff Jarvis returned to Sioux Falls and held clinics with both groups and performed as a guest soloist. Mr. Jarvis was most recently in Sioux Falls playing with the Northlanders at the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival last July.

Mr. Jarvis sat in with the All City group for their entire set. He mentioned that as he flew in to Sioux Falls, he noticed all the agriculture in our area and noted that we also "grow good kids in South Dakota."

SFJB board president, Neal Eddy, awarded Lincoln High School senior trumpet player Jordan Hoffman the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society Scholarship for Higher Learning - a $1,000 award to help with college tuition to a state institution.

As part of the scholarship process, Jordan submitted a written essay to the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society. Here are a few excerpts that demonstrate his passion for jazz music:

"...to teach kids how to play jazz, we'll I'd pay to have that job and it truly will be a dream come true when it happens," said Jordan.

"Jazz education is essential. The torch is being passed on to my generation and many are ignoring its flame. I plan to take that torch, run with it and keep jazz alive because if jazz dies, then a part of me has too."

Jordan was also a recipient of the Mike Miller Lifetime Achievement Award Scholarship when he was an 8th grader playing in the All City Middle School Jazz Ensemble. He's truly a special kid and a heck of a trumpet player as well.

The Northlanders Jazz Band was smokin’! The band started and ended their set with a bari sax solo. Awesome! Combined with a sizzling rhythm section, accomplished vocalist and great solos peppered throughout their 8 song set – their sound was a wall of swinging greatness.

Its fun for us at the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society to see kids that were involved in the All City Jazz groups evolve in their musicianship. Three of the Northlanders players are alums of the All City program: Chris Borchardt (alto and soprano sax), Meredith Reynolds (tenor sax), and Collin Block (trumpet).

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society would like to thank Dr. Paul Schilf, Ivan Fuller, Stan Eitrem and Augustana College; Jennifer Hawkinson band director at Washington High School, Robert Carlson band director at Lincoln High School, and Shane Macklin band director at Roosevelt High School. Thank you also to Ann Davis, Fine Arts Coordinator at Sioux Falls Public Schools.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society would also like to thank Yamaha Corporation for its sponsorship making Jeff Jarvis's appearance possible.